Luke 1:17

1:17 And he will go as forerunner before the Lord ¹  in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, ²  to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.”

Luke 11:31

11:31 The queen of the South ³  will rise up at the judgment ⁴  with the people ⁵  of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon – and now, ⁶  something greater ⁷  than Solomon is here!

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¹ tn Grk “before him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² sn These two lines cover all relationships: Turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children points to horizontal relationships, while (turn) the disobedient to the wisdom of the just shows what God gives from above in a vertical manner.

³ sn On the queen of the South see 1 Kgs 10:1-3 and 2 Chr 9:1-12, as well as Josephus, Ant. 8.6.5-6 (8.165-175). The South most likely refers to modern southwest Arabia, possibly the eastern part of modern Yemen, although there is an ancient tradition reflected in Josephus which identifies this geo-political entity as Ethiopia.

⁴ sn For the imagery of judgment, see Luke 10:13-15 and 11:19. The warnings are coming consistently now.

⁵ tn Grk “men”; the word here (ἀνήρ, anhr) usually indicates males or husbands, but occasionally is used in a generic sense of people in general, as is the case here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 1, 2). The same term, translated the same way, occurs in v. 32.

⁶ tn Grk “behold.”

⁷ sn The message of Jesus was something greater than what Solomon offered. On Jesus and wisdom, see Luke 7:35; 10:21-22; 1 Cor 1:24, 30.